Public Administration as a subject was started in the year 1956 in the Department of politics, Presidency College. Due to the increasing importance of the subject, “PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION” was bifurcated from the department of politics and a separate department of Public Administration came into existence in the year 1983.

Ever since, its creation, the syllabi of the M.A. Public Administration course has been restructured now and then according to the syllabi of the UPSC to enable the students of Public administration to get into the All India Services.

Further, there is more scope to incorporate subjects like NGOs, media, civil society, social movements and their importance in development administration as a focus area in the curriculum. The department is providing counseling for research students and 150 M.Phil. and 20 Ph.d research scholars have obtained their degrees from the department.

The department of Public Administration has become an advanced center for conducting research and project on various fields such as Development Administration, Human Resources Development, Health Care Administration, Industrial and Agricultural Development, Rural and Urban Development, Social Welfare Administration, Poverty Alleviation Programmes, Management and Leadership, Organisational Behaviour, Police Administration, NGOs, Civil Society, Women Empowerment, etc. The department of Public administration, Presidency college, Chennai – 5 has organized two national seminar in the department during the past three years

1. Initiatives for Good Governance: Role of Community Organizations, 2004.
2. Social Harmony and Good Governance, 2006.

The department of Public Administration has the following faculty members:

Dr.N.MADHAVAN
Reader and Head

Dr.P.MADURAI VEERAN
Selection Grade Lecturer

Dr.T.S.Tarabai Dhachayani
Selection Grade Lecturer

Thiru..S.ABDUL SALAM
Senior Lecturer.

Dr.S.KANCHANARATHNAM
Lecturer